Category Archives: Sports

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Just received the latest GoPro in store, along with their POS display stand, The most impressive piece of POS I’ve ever seen!

As for the Cameras, 2x as powerful, almost half the size and 3 different spec oprions.

The White edition kicks off the range with features just below the old Hero 2 camera, 1080p with 30 fps and 5mp still photos. Built in Wi-Fi enables the use of a remote to record from up to 600 feet away, this also allows the use of the new GoPro app, allowing users the use of their phone as a viewfinder. This is the entry level camera which will be readily available pretty much everywhere!

The Silver edition ups the ante with an ultra-wide 1080p 30 fps and 11mp still photos, built in Wi-Fi included, these will only be available from selected retailers.

The Black edition is the all singing all dancing model of the range, boasting ultr-wide 1440p 48 fps! and 12mp still photos with 30 photos a second! this is almost as imprerssive as a high end DSLR camera. The built in Wi-Fi is couples with the addition of the Wi-Fi remote in the package. This will also only be available through selected retailers.

All Cameras come with a waterproof housing and a selection of mount options.

With a huge array of add-ons and accessories, GoPro is THE best wearable action camera available on the market.

Silver editions available now, in-store and online, with the Black edition coming late November.

We recently attended the Trade Show for our BMX distributor, they were excited to unveil a BRAND NEW BMX brand they had been working on for the last 2 years, they looked at the local and national scene and decided to step up and take on the big hitters.

The new range from Social Bike Co is destined to take on the likes of Fit, Kink and United in the UK, as you may be aware, these are some of the biggest BMX brands around, and have a huge following, we as a dealer are looking to promote the brand as best we can as we believe that it is a fresh new design on the market that could go far.
We are proud to announce that the first of this new brand’s BMX bikes has arrived with us, built and displayed in store, we hope to have the remainder of the line-up very soon.

The CDF by Genesis is the baby brother of the Croix De Fer Cross bike, slightly lower spec of components, and a lower grade steel for the frame it comes in quite a chunk cheaper than the Croix De Fer.

This sat for most of the summer unnoticed by most of our customers, despite its bright blue colourway it was overlooked for the original Croix De Fer. When customers started noticing it they realised that it wasnt such a huge difference in terms of spec and feel so it started getting a lot of interest.

Once sold the CDF was equipped with full fit mudguards, indicating unfortunately the END of the summer! What we did notice though is that once we had fitted the bike with the mudguards and sat it back in its place awaiting the pick up, it got so much more interest, the bike looks 100% better with the mudguards, and looks like a proper winter training/hack bike.

Recently we have been pretty busy in the shop with workshop jobs and quite a few custom build bikes.

Possibly the nicest of these custom builds has been the Cervelo R5 Race bike we built for our sponsored Professional Triathlete who decided that weight was the biggest factor for his next bike, no matter what.

Obviously differences in manufacturers groupset weights are quite competetive, and although Dura Ace isnt the lightest of them all, we agreed to use it, pair that with Mavic Cosmic Carbon Ultimate wheels, 3T Carbon Bar and Stem and the Fizik Carbon braided saddle, the weight is going to be unbelievable.

Building it was a pleasurable experience, getting top work with some of the highest end kit, everything was going together perfectly, hardly atweak needed, biggest problem we had was the tubular tyres he opted for, but luckily for us he volunteered himself for that job.

The big goal was to get it lighter than his old Specialized bike he was racing on, 8.8kg. At the time it seemed like quite a task but as we got on with the build it was looking more and more doable. The final weigh in arrived and we sent him the message, “guess the weight and its free……..” with a picture attached.

Reply : “Looks bloody good. 6.8kg”

Massive sigh of relief from me, although he was extremely close with that guess. 6.4kg! THE lightest bike I have ever had the pleasure of building.

Unfortunately he hasnt been able to ride it because of the awful weather up here but as soon as he has had a good blast on it we’ll see what he thinks.

Fancy a custom road bike? Come into the store or email us and lets see if we can beat this one!

Chris from Sprockets Cycles attended the Demo day at Glentress Trail centre last sunday for some “product research” The brief : should we stock 29ers?

Arriving at glentress early on the sunday, I hadn’t ridden here in ages, really looking forward to the trails and testing some different bikes. I don’t tend to hire bikes from trail centres, they never feel right when you ride them, you can’t beat your own bike. With this in mind I spoke to Andy from Trek bikes, he had a small Rumblefish 29er aside for me to try first thing. Sat on the bike, set-up felt pretty good, stuck my own pedals on and away up the demo loop.

First thing I noticed with the bike, the front tyre feels like it’s a mile in front of you, its the strangest thing I’ve ever felt on a bike. Next was how easy it was to ascend on this huge wheeled full sus beast! compared to my 26″ short travel MTB it was way easier to climb steep rocky trails, if slightly more barge-like around the tight corners. reaching the top of the demo loop I was beginning to see what all the fuss was about, but was still skeptical about descending on the bigger wheels, would it still be as fun?

Cranked the pedals for a few turns until the first take off, so fast over so little distance! landed sideways into the berm and boosted out of it, pushed it straight into the next one and instantly forgot about the bigger wheels, cranked it along the straight, over a few wee jumps, this wasn’t what I had imagined 29ers would feel like, so easy to manoeuvre the bike in the air, around the wider corners it kept its speed and didn’t seem as barge-like. I WANT ONE OF THESE BIKES!

Back at the car park Andy was interested to see what Orange had to offer with their Gyro full sus 29er, asked if I could give it a blast as a comparison, instantly the Orange set-up felt too hard, even though it was calibrated to my weight by the guys, just didn’t feel as confident on it, adjusted the shock a wee bit so it felt nicer. Uphill it was still faster than my own bike, but not as fast as the rumblefish. The top of the demo loop again, got up to speed so fast again, didn’t manage to quite hit the berm after the take off, the bike didn’t feel as planted or as stable at speed as the last, almost as if the wheels wanted to fold if you pushed it too hard. Don’t know if it was the single pivot that made it feel like it did, but it was no where near as fast or as much fun going down.

Back at the car park again, handed the bike back to the Orange guys, didn’t let on that I didn’t enjoy it as much, moved on quickly. Last of the 29ers available was the Yeti Big Top, this bike looks awesome! Had my doubts because it was an aluminium framed hardtail, but gave it a go. Again it flew up the hills like no ones business, no bob or flex, just straight up power. Obviously the first thing I noticed was the lack of rear suspension on the downhill, made it slower than the last two but still had ease of movement in the air, railed the turns and got up to speed so quickly if you slipped up. The only thing that could make this hardtail 29er any better would be a steel frame.

Conclusion? 29ers kick ass, I’ll be the first to admit that I didn’t really see the big deal about them when they started becoming more mainstream, but after riding a few, my opinion has totally changed, could almost see myself selling one of my 26″ mountain bikes to add a 29er to the garage.

Signed up to get a Bandit 29er demo bike in Sprockets Cycles, also looking to get the Yeti Big Top, Santa cruz Highball and Blur 29er added to the shop bike line-up. cannot wait to see these things in Sprockets Cycles.

Come in and have a look at them when they arrive, you will not be disappointed, and if a demo day comes to a trail near you, get a go on a few of them, you will see what all the fuss has been about.

The summer is coming and Sprockets Cycles is getting busier. It’s been a while since I’ve been able to ride after work without feeling exhausted and without lights on. It’s also been a while since the other half has let me out to play after work, I love yoga classes, an hour and a half to get as much riding in as possible!

As much as I love riding at night with lights, nothing beats a “sunset session” light is fading, air is cool, trails are empty…………

The last couple of weeks have been awesome in terms of weather, sunshine all day long, cool clear nights, the trails have been completely dried out. this week though the rain has re-appeared, the trails are even better, bit more grip and wee bit of uncertainty in the corners, slidy slidy……….

Anyhow, I headed over to the other side of the local hill, haven’t ridden this trail in ages, someone excavated the tree that was blocking the end too, good times. Sessioned this for a while then headed back to the reservoir, one wee blast down the resi track and headed home. Just in time to meet the other half after her class, Cup of tea and a biscuit, night.

Sprockets Cycles manager is patiently waiting for the bits for his shiny new Transition TR250 to turn up. This should get him excited. Might have to come up with something along these lines for when he finally builds it, but he definitely won’t be getting paid for the man hours taken to produce this piece of work.